By Debbie Schlussel
In the rush to exalt former President Gerald R. Ford on the occasion of his death, let’s keep it real. He was an okay President. An average President, at best.
Here’s the DebbieSchlussel.com scorecard for President Ford:
BEST MOVES
* Pardoning President Nixon: Yes, there was never any proof that Nixon knew about the burglary at Watergate. Even liberal former ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson says that. He said he never saw any evidence that Nixon committed a crime. And it’s well known that the Watergate scandal was cooked up by those in Congress–especially the Senate (Senator Sam Ervin, Jr.)–who were upset that President Nixon actually sequester and hold funds meant for a wasteful boondoggle project. The nerve of him. Did we really need to show the world that we wanted to hang our own while we were already hanging ourselves in Vietnam after giving up without a full-fledged fight? Contrary to popular belief, this pardon is NOT what cost Ford the Presidency.

* Staying Alive: Survived two assassination attempts.
WORST MOVES
* Never Actually Winning Election to the White House: And losing to a peanut farmer from Georgia because Ford denied that there was “Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.” Hello . . . ?

* Squeezing Israel throughout his Presidency, at a time when Israel was the only non-Soviet Allied nation in the Mid-East:
As detailed by our friend, Michael Freund, in the Jerusalem Post, Ford’s policy on Israel was so pan-Islamist that even Jimmy Carter scolded him in the Presidential debate (my, how times have changed):

America stepped in and sought to impose a solution, bringing heavy pressure to bear on Israel to make concessions to the Egyptian aggressors who had launched the previous conflict.
In 1975, U.S. president Gerald Ford threatened a “reassessment” of U.S.-Israel relations, and there was even talk of possible sanctions against the Jewish state.
In the October 6, 1976, U.S. presidential debate Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter blasted the heavy-handed tactics Ford and Kissinger had used, saying, “We almost brought Israel to its knees after the Yom Kippur War by the so-called reassessment of our relationship to Israel. We in effect tried to make Israel the scapegoat for the problems in the Middle East.
“And this weakened our relationship with Israel a great deal and put a cloud on the total commitment that our people feel toward the Israelis.”

* Using his position as a former Republican (RINO) President to push continued affirmative action/reverse racism:
In an August 1999 New York Times op-ed (I wrote this column on it), President Ford wrote a ridiculous defense of affirmative action admissions at both his and my alma mater, the University of Michigan. He said that because, when he played football at Michigan (in the 1930s!!!!), other schools wouldn’t play Michigan (because it had Black players on the team), that we now, in the 21st Century need to continue affirmative action. Huh?
First of all, there isn’t affirmative action in football–especially today, when talent is king and more than 75% of all college football players are Black. Secondly, what does football have to do with college admissions. And last, but not least, how does a President–who never got to the White House on the merits of his own candidacy–tell us that we shan’t be judged on merit, because of something that happened in the 1930s?
This was his last major act in public life–to stand for continued reverse racism in America. Not something to be proud of.
For all of these reasons, President Ford will always be remembered as an average President. He did not do anything outstanding. He did not do anything great. And he paved the way for one of the worst Presidents ever, Jimmy Carter.
But, at least, he served his country well, both in the military and as an elected public servant. And for that, he will always be appreciated.
Gerald R. Ford, Rest in Peace.

By Debbie Schlussel
In the marathon coverage of the death of President Ford, the most absurd, inappropriate, and inane comment comes to us from Tom Brokaw, this morning, on NBC’s “Today” show.
Last night, he graced us with his pro-illegal alien “news” special. This morning, he tried to Paris Hiltonize the Ford sons:

You had teenage boys bringing dates back to the White House . . . and maybe even up to the Lincoln Bedroom on occasion.

Huh? A President just died, and now–three decades-plus later, Tom Broke-jaw is trying to make them look like Paris Hilton sluts in the White House. Their father died, and Brokaw is surmising about their sex lives?! And, even if it were appropriate (it isn’t), based on what information is he saying these inane things? Puh-leeze. Bringing dates to the Lincoln Bedroom? Wasn’t that Bill Clinton’s hobby?
Do They Look Like the Hilton Family To You? . . .

The Ford Family

Porn Star/Professional Skank Paris Hilton
And Brokaw is entirely inaccurate on his information, too. Gerald Ford served as President from August 9, 1974 through January of 1977. At the start of their father’s presidency, Michael Ford was 24, John Ford was 22, and Steven Ford was 18. Teenagers? Just Steve, and he was a full-fledged adult. Tom Brokaw . . . you’re getting old and irrelevant.
Steve Ford became a full-time rodeo champ and cowboy and then an actor, with long stints on “The Young and The Restless” soap opera and many other TV shows (including “Baywatch”) and films. He gets special admiration from me for facing down Hezbollah-supporting Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, when both Ford and Issa were organizers of the Republican National Convention in San Diego, where Steve Ford now lives.
More on Steve Ford.
Shame on Tom Brokaw. Rigor mortis has barely set in, and he’s surmising on the sex lives of Ford “teenagers” who were mostly in their 20s.

By Debbie Schlussel
All of those movies, cartoons, TV shows, and other pop culture attacks on men and masculinity are having an effect. People are less trusting of–and attribute bad behavior to–men who look masculine, a new study says.
USA Today reports on research in the academic journal, “Personal Relationships,” based on University of Michigan psychologist Daniel Kruger’s online experiments. 854 undergraduates saw digitally altered, composite photos of men’s faces. Some faces were adjusted to look more masculine, some more feminine.
The results:

“People can make snap judgments of other people based on something that’s superficial – just by the way someone’s face looks,” [Kruger] says.

Which One Would You Trust Based on Facial Looks Alone?

Justin Timberlake or John Wayne/Sylvester Stallone?

His work found that highly masculine faces were judged more likely to get into fights or cheat on their partners. The less masculine versions were thought to be better husbands and good with children. Both men and women chose less masculine faces as dates for their 25-year-old hypothetical daughters. And men selected the less masculine faces to accompany their girlfriends out of town.

But those who are biased against masculine men could be the victim of the propaganda to which they are apparently pre-disposed:

David Buss, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin and president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, who was not involved in either study, cautions that quick appraisals might have some merit but also can lead people astray.
“There are lots of very masculine-looking guys who are really nice guys and good dads and also some – I have studied killers – some have these feminine-looking faces and these guys are real (SOBs).”

BTW, USA Today’s print edition showed a pic of Justin Timberlake, within this article, with the caption:

Safety? Justin Timberlake’s [face] may appear less threatening.

Yep, he’s more feminine looking. But I wouldn’t assign any positive behavior to the guy. Remember him and Janet Jackson at the Superbowl? Looks are definitely deceiving.

By Debbie Schlussel
. . . “Potty Parity.” Yes, in a post-9/11 world of terrorist threats, failing public education, and numerous other maladies and crises, the chick Members of Congress have made it their biz to worry about the worst prob first.
Imagine this: They actually have to “traverse” a hall where tourists gather, in order to go to a restroom. Unbelievable. They actually have to go near the American cattle, a/k/a citizens, and “traverse” the hired help, too. Incredible. We can’t have that–such a degrading situation must be immediately addressed:

Reaching the women’s [bathroom] is more challenging. It entails traversing a hall where tourists gather, or entering the minority leader’s office, navigating a corridor that winds past secretarial desks and punching in a keypad code to ensure restricted access. Not so convenient.

Madam Speaker Nancy Potty-Obsessed Pelosi

So when speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., takes the gavel, she may revisit, along with the Iraq war and raising the minimum wage, the question of potty parity.
Starting in January, the 435-member House will have a record 71 women. (The 100-member Senate will have 16 women, also a record.)
Asked whether female House members should also get a loo off the chamber, Pelosi said, “I’m all for it – let’s find a spot.” Mischievously, she said she’s eyeing the men’s room just steps from the chamber, “but the gentlemen, they just won’t get out of there.”

So glad Speaker-in-waiting Nancy “facelift” Pelosi has her priorities straight. But she doesn’t believe in self-fulfilling stereotypes. Nah.
She hasn’t even started yet, and her Speakership is already in the toilet. Here’s hoping we can flush it away very, very soon.

By Debbie Schlussel
I was never a fan of James Brown (I do like the CBS football announcer, James Brown–who is still alive–though) or the bizarre way he lived his private life . . . which all too often became public.
But no-one can deny Brown’s talent and the things he spawned, not just in R&B, but also in rock. Eddie Murphy’s character in the just-released box-office hit, “Dreamgirls,” appears to be based on James Brown. (And, ironically, he wrote lyrics against Murphy in one of his biggest hits–see below.)
When I was in college and visiting Washington, DC, a friend invited me to a James Brown concert. Even though that is really not my kind of music, I was amazed. The stories about him losing 8-10 pounds per show have got to be true. I’ve never seen someone (other than Chuck Berry, whom I also saw that year) go on so long and have such infinite energy in a live concert. If my memory serves me correctly, Brown went on for more than three hours (way too long, actually). Concertgoers certainly got their money’s worth.

Now that James Brown is gone, it’s a little weird to note that in 1991, there was that dance club hit by Dutch group L.A. Style, “James Brown is Dead,” based on a fake story that a newscaster prematurely announced he was dead (never happened). Now, that song seems vile.
Ironically, one of his biggest hits, “Living in America,” came well after his heyday, in Rocky IV. The song was played on the radio so much, it drove me nuts. And looking at the lyrics now, you have to ask, “Huh?” Is it patriotic or is it just something scatterbrained he wrote while on something? Hard to tell, and maybe that’s the genius of it:

Living in America
By James Brown
Yeah, uh! Get up, now! Ow! Knock out this!
Super highways, coast to coast, easy to get anywhere
On the transcontinental overload, just slide behind the wheel
How does it feel
When there’s no destination – that’s too far
And somewhere on the way, you might find out who you are
Chorus:
Living in America – eye to eye, station to station
Living in America – hand to hand, across the nation
Living in America – got to have a celebration
Rock my soul
Smokestack, fatback, many miles of railroad track
All night radio, keep on runnin’ through your rock ‘n’ roll soul
All night diners keep you awake, hey, on black coffee and a hard roll
You might have to walk the fine line, you might take the hard line
But everybody’s working overtime
(chorus)
I live in America, help me out, but I live in America, wait a minute
You might not be looking for the promised land, but you might find it anyway
Under one of those old familiar names
Like New Orleans (New Orleans), Detroit City (Detroit City), Dallas (Dallas)
Pittsburg P.A. (Pittsburg P.A.), New York City (New York City)
Kansas City (Kansas City), Atlanta (Atlanta), Chicago and L.A.
Living in America – hit me – living in America – yeah, I walk in and out
Living in America
I live in America – state lines, gonna make the prime, that
I live in America – hey, I know what it means, I
Living in America – Eddie Murphy, eat your heart out
Living in America – hit me, I said now, eye to eye, station to station
Living in America – so nice, with your bare self
Living in America – I feel good!

James Brown, Godfather of Soul, Rest in Peace.

By Debbie Schlussel
First, it was Bazooka Joe and gang. Then, it was Monopoly board game token/icon game pieces. Now, it’s Betty and Veronica that have undergone an unnecessary, ugly extreme makeover. Merry Christmas, America, from your friends at Archie Comic Publications, Inc. of Mamaroneck, New York.
Especially in the case of Betty & Veronica, Archie’s rival galpals, this remake made them plastic surgery victims (do comic book characters get anesthesia?), where before they looked pretty good and far more glam and classy. The new versions resemble Paris Hilton and her sister, Nicky. The inbred nose thing, too-long ostrich neck, and shleppy-ness isn’t attractive:

Compare that to the old versions:


Am I right? Or am I RIGHT?!
Ironically, this new change is supposed to make Betty and Veronica look more sophisticated. Huh? Someone needs Lasik.

“We are going after an older female audience who are ready to move on to read something else,” says Michael Silberkleit, Archie Comic’s chairman and co-publisher, and a son of one of the company’s founders. Current readers are predominantly girls between the ages of 7 and 14.

Speaking as an older female, who used to collect Betty and Veronica comic books, the older version of Betty and Veronica was far more appealing.
More evidence that sometimes–actually, a lot of the time–things AND people don’t need makeovers. Not everything can be “improved” merely by being changed. Our “Makeover Nation” often throws out the best in favor of the empty “newism.”

By Debbie Schlussel
Much is being made of Muslim U.S. Congressman-elect Keith Ellison’s speech, this weekend, at the Dearbornistan annual convention of the Muslim American Society (the Muslim Brotherhood) and the jihadist Islamic Circle of North America.
But not much mention has been made of another speaker at the event, Raeed Tayeh. Billed as a national “Muslim youth mentor” and speaking on “Intimidation at School: How to Deal with It,” Tayeh is an odd choice . . . or perhaps a deliberate one.
I know of Tayeh well because in 2002, I debated him on both FOX News’ “O’Reilly Factor” and MSNBC’s “Hardball,” when he was leading a worldwide Muslim boycott of Starbucks on the “grounds” that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is Jewish and had denounced anti-Semitism. Tayeh was also promoting Caribou Coffee, owned by mostly Saudis and employing high-level officers who support homicide bombings of Jews and American soldiers in Iraq.

Raeed Tayeh: Extremist, National Muslim Youth Mentor
At the time, Tayeh was the spokesman for a sketchy organization called American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice, which had ties to Al-Qaeda and an extremist Southern California mosque and was reportedly rejected by the IRS in its attempts to get 501(c)(3) status. The organization and its website have since disappeared.
I saw Tayeh, again, in 2004, just after several Americans were beheaded by Muslims in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. He was MCing a Dearbornistan fundraiser for HAMAS-front charity Islamic Relief Worldwide, at which the “entertainment” was young Muslim American boys wearing American, British, and Israeli flags simulating beheadings on each other.
Tayeh, a former employee of the HAMAS-front group Islamic Association for Palestine, worked for several organizations tied to Islamic terrorist organizations and his activities are well-known in support of anti-Semitism.
Even wacko ex-Rep. Cynthia McKinney a/k/a “Jihad Cindy” fired Tayeh in November 2001 for writing an anti-Semitic letter to Capitol Hill newspaper, “The Hill,” questioning the loyalty of Jewish Members of Congress and the Senate.
Before that, he was filmed at a pro-HAMAS, pro-Hezbollah rally in front of the Clinton White House shouting statements about how Palestine was “from the river to the sea” (ie., all of Israel). Also of note, Tayeh was a “mediator” on behalf of convicted terrorist Fawaz Abu Damrah (see also, here), Imam of the Cleveland Mosque, who deservedly now rots in jail.
Tayeh is, indeed, an interesting choice for a “mentor” for anyone. That these Muslim organizations would choose this open supporter of terrorism, jihad, and bigotry to “mentor” their kids, tells us everything we need to know about them. And everything we already knew.

By Debbie Schlussel
Apparently, Tom Brokaw missed the lines of Americans applying for jobs at the Swift meat packing plants, last week.
Because, tonight on NBC , at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Brokaw–who should have been put out to pasture long ago–presents an hour-long, drivel-filled “news” special on illegal aliens.
He and NBC claim that the show will debunk “myths” about illegal immigration. But instead, they perpetuate them. From NBC News, here are some of the claims Brokaw will make tonight on the unfortunately-named “Tom Brokaw Reports: In the Shadow of the American Dream” (should really be called, “Tom Brokaw Distorts: Trampling on the American Dream”):

In our report on illegal immigration Tuesday night, December 26, at 8 p.m. on NBC, “Tom Brokaw Reports: In the Shadow of the American Dream,” several points are indisputable [DS: “indisputable”?]:

1. In many parts of the country immigrants are doing the work Americans no longer want to do, especially the hard work of manual labor at construction sites.
2. In our reporting we discovered that most of them are paid a fair wage – $14.00 an hour for an entry level construction job, and that they are paying state and federal taxes through withholding. (Sure, some employers pay cash off the books but most we encountered are trying to play by the rules).
3. While local residents are conflicted about the spreading Hispanic culture – language and music – they agree the immigrants are very hard workers and in general have good family values.

Really? Like this guy’s values?
NBC & Broke-jaw continue:

We can build a high fence, send illegals back, crack down on employers and it won’t end because it is about survival and a piece of the American dream, a powerful lure for immigrants from all over the world for 200 years.
It is a growing problem and it requires urgent action in Congress because in the meantime all the pressure is on local law enforcement, school and health administrators and employers.
A sovereign nation must have control of its borders and a great nation must have a systematic, legal way of filling its labor needs.

Translation: Stop enforcing immigration laws, let’s have amnesty.
President Bush and the amnesty crusaders need to send a giant kiss to Tom Brokaw and NBC. Because he delivered them a giant Christmas gift (if a day late) of propaganda that hardly tells the story.
Again, where was Tom Brokaw at last week’s lines at Swift, featuring a plethora of Americans doing this “work Americans no longer want to do”? And where is Tom Brokaw at the plenty of jobs being reported upon left and right–including at Tyson–where aliens are driving wages way down, where alien contractors are accepting far less and driving Americans out of jobs and businesses?
Even New York Times television critic Neil Genzlinger writes that this is a “pro-immigrant program” and that Brokaw tells his subjects what he wants them to say:

“Americans don’t want this work,” Mark Gould, the company’s president, says bluntly of the ditch-digging and other tough jobs that must be done to enable boom-time buildings to go up. But immigrants, mostly Mexicans, do want it, and so in the Rockies, far from the border and that much-discussed wall, Spanish is taking over. Mr. Brokaw visits a four-bedroom house where one of Mr. Gould’s workers lives with 17 other people. Only one of the 18 is an American, a 2-year-old who was born in the United States.
Mr. Gould talks forthrightly about the frustrations of having more work than he can find workers to do. His staff is shown making what seems to be a good-faith effort to check applicants’ papers, and the police and other local officials talk about legal-vs.-illegal-immigrant issues, but there’s a sense that it’s all a facade: everyone knows the area’s economy wouldn’t run without illegal workers. Certainly Mr. Brokaw’s crew has no trouble not only pinpointing which of Mr. Gould’s workers are illegal but also finding the document-forger they use.
But this is no expose. It’s an attempt to look at the immigration issue through the eyes of people directly involved, and Mr. Brokaw – despite an annoying interview technique in which he states the ideas he wants his subjects to articulate, then asks them if that’s correct – gets a commendable amount of candor out of people when he lets them talk.
Varied views are dutifully represented, but this is at heart a pro-immigrant program; immigrants are depicted as hard workers, and there is no suggestion that some come to the United States specifically to commit crimes or rip off the system. If nothing else, though, Mr. Brokaw reveals the interconnectedness that takes hold once a community turns to immigrant labor.

Tom Brokaw forgot how to report (if he ever knew). This is just plain advocacy. NBC–the Nuevo Broadcasting Company.
***
NBC News employees who put together this pro-illegal alien propaganda are:

David Corvo, executive producer; Soraya Gage, producer; Joyce Cordero, Leonor Ayala, field producers; Liz Bowyer, editorial producer; Erika Beck, researcher; Josh Kuvin, editor;

Remember their names. They are behind similar propaganda you see on NBC News, every single day. Here and here are “reports” from two of them on how they “researched” this “report”.

By Debbie Schlussel
To all of my Christian friends and readers. May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! A Blessed Holiday to you.

By Debbie Schlussel
There is a long list of movies released today for the big holiday weekend. Ironically, the sixth installment of “Rocky”–“Rocky Balboa” (my reviews here, here, and here), released Wednesday–bests them all. This weekend’s offerings include two movies with the words, “The Good,” in the title. It’s false advertising, since neither is actually good. Then, there are two movies that are deceptively marketed as men’s genres, football and a spy flick, both of which are really overdramatic Lifetime-style “Movies of the Week” on the silver screen. The choices:

* “The Good Shepherd“: This is being promoted as a spy movie. It is hardly that, but here’s what it is: miserable, 3-hours long, boring, and pointless.
It’s a chick flick pretending to be something else. Supposedly about the founding of the CIA, it’s more about cockamamie, drawn out spy machinations that make little sense and aren’t exciting. Lifetime does the spy biz. It features a lot of arguing and fighting between cold, unemotional, fictional CIA operative Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) and his wife (Palestinian terrorism-supporter Angelina Jolie), and the empty, distant relationship Wilson has with her and their son (who, thanks to the “magic”? of Hollywood, looks the same age as them once he is in college).
The spy theatrics are mostly overwrought, convoluted nothings having very little to do with the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, Soviet communists and before that, Nazis. Big in the movie is the famed “Skull & Bones” fraternity of Yale, and the men who came out of it to form the OSS and then the CIA. Boooooooring. Is there a plot in this movie? No.
Seemingly out of place, but generating a laugh from me, was Joe Pesci in a novel role for him: mobster. Robert De Niro should stick to acting, because–if this movie is any indication–he’s a terrible director. The movie is snooty for no due reason. Also in this insufferable cinematic marathon: Alec Baldwin, who still hasn’t moved from America as promised.
My friend, Detroit film critic Tom Long, said it best:

Painfully overlong, weighed down by its own self-conscious seriousness and filled with non-surprises, “The Good Shepherd” will appeal only to those who like dreary tales filled with unlikable characters.

Skip this. You’ll thank me.

* “Dreamgirls“: Well-acted and sung, this movie is a chick-flick made out of a hit Broadway musical of the same name. Entertaining, light, and starring Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, and Jamie Foxx, the real star of this one is former “American Idol” contestant, Jennifer Hudson.
Loosely based on the story of the Supremes, Motown, and Berry Gordy, Jr., a trio of black female pop singers helps usher in the Motown sound on their way to superstardom, but the best singer of the pack, Effie (Hudson) is pushed out. Worth seeing.
* “The Good German“: Oy! George Clooney stars in this pretentious, wanna-be, “Casablanca”-lite film in black-and-white. War correspondent Jacob Geismer (Clooney) returns to post-WWII Germany to cover a conference at Potsdam on the future of Germany. But he’s really there to find his former love, Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), a German woman who has turned to prostitution. Her husband, a Nazi SS man, is wanted for his knowledge of V2 missiles at Dora Concentration Camp. Is he alive? All sides want him, and they want her, too.
Goes in a million different twists and turns. The beautiful clothing and non-color film are high on style, but low on substance and plot. Too convoluted to be taken seriously. And kind of disturbing. Not a great portrayal of America in post-War Germany–another reason to hate this film. Slow, long, and boring. Little redeeming in this film.

* “Letters From Iwo Jima“: Read my initial review. Told from the point of view of Japanese soldiers who fought in the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, against America. They are honorable, whereas the brief scenes of American soldiers show them to be creepy murderers who kill Japanese soldiers in cold blood after they’ve already surrendered. This is Director Clint Eastwood’s gift to the America that his given him so much–a huge slap in the face, after the first slap he already gave American Iwo Jima veterans with his specious, “Flags of Our Fathers,” earlier this fall.
2.5 hours long, this was very boring, completely in Japanese (with English subtitles), and confusing. Not worth the time and effort to try to stay awake, which is surely a losing battle. Major skipworthiness. Again, read my initial review.
* “We Are Marshall“: Read my initial reaction. Lifetime does football. This way-too-long, way-too-tearful movie creates fictional characters in the real-life story of the rebuilding of West Virginia’s Marshall University, after most of its coaches and players died in a 1970 plane crash.
Less about football, and more about men repeatedly crying and having emotional attacks. Not pretty, just painful. Ditto for the bad fashions, haircuts, and sideburns for men in the ’70s. Matthew McConaughey, who plays the new coach Lengyel, seems like a cartoon character, clown, and parody rolled into one.
Male crybabies feeling guilty is not enough to make an interesting movie. Again, read my initial reaction: “We Are Marshall” = “We Are Girlie-Men.”